Sunspots - Wednesday July 21st 2021

Solar flux is 87 and the SSN 59.  A=10 and K=2.

Thunder stops play

As we had thunderstorms after lunch, I turned off 10m WSPR and 6m FT8 as well as the PSU and PC. The storm has passed, but I shall wait until the morning before reconnecting things.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/other-amateur-radio/lightning-maps .

Lesser Chirpy Transceiver

You can guess why this has this name! 

The first version had too much chirp, whereas this has virtually no chirp at all. It is a "for fun" rig for 10m CW with very few parts, that I am sure can be improved.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/hf-mf-and-lf/homebrew/10m-lesser-chirpy .

New OFCOM report on emerging internet technologies

OFCOM has produced a new report on technologies that could shape the future of the internet. See the OFCOM website for more details.

As it is quite long, I have only read the summary so far, but I did not realise that 51% of the world's people now use the internet and that its use has grown 12 fold since 2010.

Orchids - NOT amateur radio

My wife has a way with orchids, many lasting for years. One secret is not over-watering giving them just a thimble of water a week. 

At the moment, I think we have seven on the go.

6m FT8 (Tuesday)

After a brief session on 2.5W TX (5 UK spots of me, but no QSOs) I am RX only. 3 UK stations spotted so far.  At the moment (0805z) it seems there is no Es noticeable here. As before, my antenna is the V2000 omni vertical.

UPDATE 0840z:  Just 6 G stations spotted so far today. At this time yesterday 6m FT8 was really good. I guess as time progresses we will still get openings, but less often.

UPDATE 1010z:   17 stations spotted so far. Just recently, a couple in the Ukraine spotted, probably by Es

10m WSPR

Been on 10m WSPR TX (500mW) since 0752z. Nobody has spotted me yet.

UPDATE 1014z:  Still nobody has spotted me yet. 

UPDATE 1119z:  2 spots of my QRP so far today. At least this beacon can just quietly run in the background.

6m FT8 yesterday

503 stations spotted on 6m FT8 RX yesterday. This was a good Es day on 6m FT8 RX. 

Oh to be young! - NOT amateur radio

My grandson surfing. He has good balance, unlike his grandfather! 

He looks a natural.

I was like that, but it was a very long time ago!

6m Europe to Australia (again)

According to John's blog, there was another Europe to Australia opening on 6m. The furthermost was over 17000km, which is quite mind blowing on a VHF band. This is not a pirate as multiple stations were involved. Amazing!  This seems extremely unlikely to be multi-hop Es. I am sure we have lots to learn still!

Also on the blog is a report of the South African 8m beacon being copied in SE England.

See https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/ .